[360] Alan Wake - Still awake

[nightshade]

Just wanna nit picking on the tech side again, the supposed volumetric lighting doesn't actually cause any sun shaft through the trees or anything else which is weird. Also I'm surprised all the shadows from the foliage are static which can be seen during day time. Very impressive view though but it's not as alive as it could be.

I mentioned this long ago in my first impression, that very few lights are actually lights that create any kid of shafts, static or dynamic.
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1427422&postcount=634

The number of times you see a light that makes shaft are actually less than the number of times you do in Final Fantasy 13 or GOW3.

 

[ultragpu]

I mentioned this long ago in my first impression, that very few lights are actually lights that create any kid of shafts, static or dynamic.
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1427422&postcount=634

The number of times you see a light that makes shaft are actually less than the number of times you do in Final Fantasy 13 or GOW3.

Guess I missed that. It appears only the cutscenes support sun shafts, but I do wish they didn't ditch the global dynamic shadows as seen back in the first reveal trailer.

 

[zed]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27442/Analysis_Why_Alan_Wake_Is_Too_WellMade_To_Work.php

 

[nightshade]

Okay..now that I got my CE delivered yesterday (beautiful box), I started playing the game seriously & this means watching all the cutscenes (earlier I just played for a while to judge the tech & watched only the first 2 cutscenes). And by God the video compression is downright terrible !! The screen is literally full of compression artefacts most of the time.

Anyways...I'm really digging the story telling so far, just annoyed that I have to search everywhere to find manuscripts...since they are such crucial to the story.

---------------------------------EDIT---------------------------------
I was looking at the videos in the LCE Bonus disc today & there was this video named "TGS 09 Gameplay trailer"
The gameplay shown in this video was exactly from the same portion of the game where the police are trying to capture wake (few minutes off chapter 3) & it looked 720p (couldn't tell about AA since its a pretty dark level) to me since it was rather sharp compared to what I saw when I played that portion myself, but the framerate was very very jerky must've been around 20FPS. Also the light effects from flashlights looked really blocky since everything else was much sharper. If this is how the game looked & ran at 720p, then I can see why they dropped the resolution.

 

[dragonelite]

Nice just got my copy installing now and play some time before going to the gym.

 

[RobertR1]

I'm almost at the end of Episode 2 and wow, what a game. I thought RDR was awesome but I'm sucked into this much more. I'm limiting myself to an episode a day. I hope the game carries on like this to the finish.

 

[dragonelite]

I'm almost at the end of Episode 2 and wow, what a game. I thought RDR was awesome but I'm sucked into this much more. I'm limiting myself to an episode a day. I hope the game carries on like this to the finish.

I always have this drive to just find next page just to know what is happening. Talking about hanging a huge carrot before you.

Im probably half way through episode 2. I even put RDR back in it's case.

 

[RobertR1]

Yeah. I'm lying when I say one chapter a night. My self control will disappear as soon as I play again.

 

[dragonelite]

Wow i sometimes have to stop and enjoy the creepy atmosphere.
Alan wake and Red dead redemption work so good with the extreme draw distance.

 

[Rotmm]

Ok, so I finished this evening and I have to say..... fuck me, what an awesome game.

I started with high expectations as I've long been a fan of Remedy, got slightly nervous when some of the reviews came in less than glowing, was slightly underwhelmed during the first chapter and then the game just took hold of me.

One thing that I've read in a few reviews is that the "combat mechanics" outstay their welcome, and maybe they would have if I'd sat down to play the game as a reviewer and finished the game in a single 8-10 hour session. But playing it over the course of a week or so meant that the combat style continued to feel fresh to me.

I'll maybe go into more detail about my thoughts another day, but suffice to say that I think the game has jumped into my all-time top 10 (shooter-type) SP games, along side titles such as Deus Ex, Unreal, NOLF, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock, Undying (except the last 3rd ) and a couple of others.

While the cinematics were ropey, the story was far more engaging than I expected. But it's the pacing that was the real king. Masterful is not a word that can often be used in video game pacing, but Alan Wake certainly is close to it.

 

[dragonelite]

Wow just finished episode 3 what a ride.
I like all the watch towers you could go on in this episode just take a break from all those taken and enjoy the scenery.

Hope remedy does a open world game with this engine be it with Alan wake or a other franchise.

 

[nightshade]

I finished episode 3 & played a bit of Episode 4 & I am glad that this:

Spoiler

Didn't turned out to be Shutter Island all over again. But I was curious over how the Doc's conversation with Alice Wake was the same which Alan hears in the phone call by kidnapper

 

[dragonelite]

Just finished episode 4 and dam it's even a wilder ride then episode 3.
To summarize episode 4 in 4 words

Spoiler

Rock and roll baby

 

[ultragpu]

I finished it last night and was overall a pretty enjoyable game, the repetitive gameplay and enemy encounters ruined it a bit but really felt for the story. It seems the ending has left more questions than answers and clearly asking for a sequel. And who's that

Spoiler

Big Daddy looking spaceman

anyway? I didn't read and find all the manual scripts btw.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I finished it last night and was overall a pretty enjoyable game, the repetitive gameplay and enemy encounters ruined it a bit but really felt for the story. It seems the ending has left more questions than answers and clearly asking for a sequel. And who's that

Spoiler

Big Daddy looking spaceman

anyway? I didn't read and find all the manual scripts btw.

Have they said if the DLC will be a continuation of the story, or if it will be between the gaps or entirely unrelated?

 

[ultragpu]

Haven't heard anything concrete yet but I'd imagine a continuation of the ending. I don't like the idea of loose episodes as they just appear to be abrupt from the whole game.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Holy moly!

Spoiler

Episode 4 has some of the most visually insane sequences I've ever seen in a game. The part where you escape the building and meet Barry outside, and he hands you the flashlight, is amazing. Looking at that building, with all of the lightning flashes going on, and that weird black smoke fog emanating off the building, is a real treat.

 

[nightshade]

Finished the game & eventhough I understood the ending I can honestly say that I was kinda disappointed...such a blatant cliffhanger left for more $$$ through DLCs. The story itself is great though, but near the end it went quite crazy & I totally agree that they left more questions than answers.

Spoiler

And wtf is up with Zane being a Big Daddy look alike lol ? And its confusing to tell who's in whose story

Overall a good game & excellent one time experience (but just one time...though I'll play more with dev commentary).


EDIT: Come to think of it...what IF ?

Spoiler

Mr. Scratch is actually the one who we've been controlling throughout ? That would totally explain the page written by Zane talking about Alan & the co-occurrence of The Clicker...as it could simply be the REAL Alan inside the cabin writing about himself while Mr. Scratch plays his role outside...this could be a means for Alan to free/write his real self out of the story. This would also explain why Sarah said to Alan that there was no house at Cauldron Lake, when it obviously did existed.

Another What if ?

Spoiler

Zane had a son & Alan Wake's that son ?

 

[Billy Idol]

Finished the game & eventhough I understood the ending I can honestly say that I was kinda disappointed...such a blatant cliffhanger left for more $$$ through DLCs. The story itself is great though, but near the end it went quite crazy & I totally agree that they left more questions than answers.

Spoiler

And wtf is up with Zane being a Big Daddy look alike lol ? And its confusing to tell who's in whose story

Overall a good game & excellent one time experience (but just one time...though I'll play more with dev commentary).


EDIT: Come to think of it...what IF ?

Spoiler

Mr. Scratch is actually the one who we've been controlling throughout ? That would totally explain the page written by Zane talking about Alan & the co-occurrence of The Clicker...as it could simply be the REAL Alan inside the cabin writing about himself while Mr. Scratch plays his role outside...this could be a means for Alan to free/write his real self out of the story. This would also explain why Sarah said to Alan that there was no house at Cauldron Lake, when it obviously did existed.

Another What if ?

Spoiler

Zane had a son & Alan Wake's that son ?

Spoiler

The question a lot of people are asking: is Alan Wake even a real person? Or is he just the protagonist in the book of Zane?
It might well be that AW is just a figure in his book, that would explain the instances where "god-like" Zane talks with AW and gives him hints, like a narrator...

On the otherhand, it is quite irritating, because AW writes at least parts of the book himself!

 

[dragonelite]

Spoiler

The question a lot of people are asking: is Alan Wake even a real person? Or is he just the protagonist in the book of Zane?
It might well be that AW is just a figure in his book, that would explain the instances where "god-like" Zane talks with AW and gives him hints, like a narrator...

On the otherhand, it is quite irritating, because AW writes at least parts of the book himself!

But the story looks like a plate of spaghetti you can't know what is real every thing intertwines. Think that when we play the last part of this franchise everything will fall into place. So this franchise will probably stand of fall on fan support. Cant wait for the first dlc to fill in some of the gaps.

Spoiler

Think that "the signal" dlc will be about the lighthouse and how the darkness spreads out like a ocean. Alan had to write that the darkness becomes a bigger force so Alice didn't become the host for the darkness. Like Zane failed to do with barbara he just wrote her back. Alan said at the end you can't unbalance the scale you have to balance everything in a thriller.